Barack O’Bama smokes.  He’s admitted to the vice, saying he’s trying nicotine gum.

Maybe he needs to call my sister.

Suzie Talley is the only person I know who can quit vices faster than you’ll notice Kim Kardashian’s backside.  

It’s been a month since Suzie gave up caffeine, sugar, alcohol and processed food…all at once.  I tried that.  I caved after two days (and at the begging of co-workers and The Boyfriend who said, “I liked the toxic Sherri”).  I thought we’d never hear from Suzie again.  I was wrong.  

Have you tried to give up something?  Are you up for the challenge?  Here’s Suzie’s report: 

‘”As my month long experiment ends…(no coffee-caffeine/sugar or alcohol/white or processed food) I highly recommend it! 

At first, the caffeine withdrawal was awful.  I almost felt sick for the first 2-3 days.  This just confirmed to me that I was addicted to it.  It was by far the hardest of all the things to give up.

Sugar was the second, but something really awesome happened.  Before giving these things up, I felt roller coasters in my energy level throughout the day.  On this experiment,  my energy level is constant throughout the day.  My 5:00 p.m. everyday blood sugar dip went away as well.  This was the most amazing.  For example, this morning I got up at 6, went to gym and lifted weights, washed Scott’s car, cleaned out the garage and was on the phone by 9:00 for my first conference call.  At noon, rode my bike for an hour and 15 minutes and will do a run after work today.  My energy level is amazing now!!

Giving up alcohol had some effect on me.  My resting HR in the morning is 40 bpm.  At night after dinking wine, it was 55 bpm.  So no more heart racing which I attributed to alcohol.

I also noticed I sleep like a truck.  No waking up in the middle of the night and when I do wake up at 6 a.m., I am really up.

At first life seemed rather bland without my vices to spice things up, but after about 3 weeks, other things took their place, like the spike in my energy level.  I have felt the best I have ever felt.  I lost only 5 pounds, but weight loss was not my goal.

I can’t say I will give these things up for life, but it was a cool way of getting to know your body better.”

Would you ride your bike to work on a regular basis.  Why or why not? 

I tried that once.  Gas prices weren’t that high then.  It was Ride Your Bike To Work Day.  I was sweating profusely when I got to work.  I had helmet hair (the people in this picture should be wearing helmets–trust me–I know this).   The weight of my backpack with all the stuff in it I needed for work threw me off balance on the bike.  Traffic was terrible.   

On the bright side, I felt envigorated when I got to work.  I felt industrious and more independent (I didn’t need no stinkin’ car!). 

What if we had cycling lanes?  I would make the effort more often to ride for the purpose of transportation if we did. 

What if there were a place at work to put your bike?  What if there were showers there?  What if we as a city, residents and employers made the necesssary changes? 

Ouch!  My efforts to dip back into the sport of triathlon aren’t going that swimmingly. 

First, I needed a pool.  Anything bigger than the inflatable one in the backyard. 

On the day I joined the fitness facility, the pool heater was out.  I’m thinking, ya know, I’ll just pretend I’m doing that Escape to Alcatrez Tri, where the waters are frigid and I’m really tough.  As I approach the water, I’m guessing there might be a reason I have the whole pool to myself.  When I jump in, I know for sure.   I wish I could say motivation toward a fitness goal helped me finish the half mile in the cold water.  I just wanted to warm up.  I was also desperate to take off my goggles that leaked and actually sucked the chlorinated water into my eyes!  

On to the bike I recently dusted off…the one hanging in the utility room for the past year.  Sunday, a friend asked if I’d show him a good three mile running route.  Since I’d already done my run and swim that day, I said, “I’ll just ride my bike along with you and show you the route.”  I’ve never been so grateful for a bike helmet.  When I crashed into my friend, then met up with the concrete, my head hit the street so hard it bounced back up and slammed back down again!  I understand when that happens, you’re supposed to get a new helmet.  As soon as I can stand up, I’ll do that. 

My thoughts about now:  My neighbor’s comments about the Lord just wanting me to sit down. 

Joining our local tri club, Sunrise, was a good move.  I get constant group emails from people of all levels and stay informed about group rides and swims.   My job hours keep me from being able to hook up with most of these events, but it’s motivating to read about them.   

Obstacles are those frightening things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.   Although it’s not easy to return to the same level of fitness I enjoyed four years ago, I’m going to tri!   

Onward! 

Wow.  What fun!  This media fitness challege did what Robert “Super-Mann” Blount meant for it to do.  It motivated several of the nine local journalists who competed this morning to reach a higher level of fitness and health.  Several of us are resuming training programs and adding to what we’ve learned in the past three months.     

So, thanks to Supe for the motivation, everyone who competed for the challenge for the inspiration and challenge and to Martin Cota of Digital Photo 662 (www.dphoto662.com) for taking such awesome pictures and letting me use them on this site!

8:30 a.m. - we reported to Riverview Hall for measurements.  I was so awestruck by what Roy Lang and Val Horvath did in their attempts to lose weight.  Roy lost 34 pounds…Val, aboout 30!  I had some shifting of inches I was happy about.  I was surprised to learn I actually gained and lost in places I wanted to!

The challenge:

Bench Press (55 lbs. for women/men bench their weight) — as many as we could do in a minute.  Then, pushups (the boy ones!)  BTW, the military might be calling Fred Childers after his pushup performance.  Situps - as many as possible in a minute.  Then, in some cruel and unusual surprise, we were presented with a 220-pound tractor tire and offered the opportunity to flip it for time.  Thanks, Supe!  After all that, we ventured to the riverfront for a half mile race.

Click here to see the story on KTBS.

Congratulations to the winners!  It was a close and competitive (we’re journalists!) challenge.  A single point made the difference between first and second place in both categories.  Let’s do it again next year! 

Men—

1.  Chris Redford, KTBS-TV, 2.  Fred Childers, KSLA-TV, 3.  Roy Lang, The Times

Women—

1.  Katrina Webber, KSLA-TV, 2.  Sherri Talley, KTBS-TV, 3.  Christina Erwin, FOX-TV, 4.  Amber Miller, KTAL-TV, 5.  Val Horvath, The Times, 6.  Neisha Livingston, The Times

It’s no secret now that my fitness has fallen off.  What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.  While my fitness didn’t happen there at all, it somehow stayed there, because I haven’t been back on my strength routine since. 

Tonight, we weighed-in for the Fit For Life Journalist Challenge at the Louisiana Boardwalk.  Eight time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney laughed hard when I talked to him about how a bunch of out-of-shape journalists (speak for yourself, Talley!) were going to give it a go in the morning during a fitness challenge.   I responded with one of those sort of fake, nervous laughs.

I’m a runner.  Not a fighter.  Ha…no, I mean not a strength person.  Anyway, each of us have had our own goals and while weight wasn’t as much a factor for me as was strength, I was so impressed by the weight loss of some of the other journalists.  30 pounds!  24 pounds!  Dang!

I really don’t want to get up early and toss around a tractor tire (as if!), throw down some iron and run faster than is necessary.  But I will.  I said I would.  And I think it just might jump-start my motivation back to where it needs to be for me to get excited about my racing goals again.   

So, (although I’ll be cussing him at 6am) I want to thank Supermann Robert Blount for being such a motivator in this challenge.   

I’m sweating this weekend’s media fitness challenge.  As I’m writing this, I asked Chris Redford to bring me several M&Ms.   What the?  I used to be a serious athlete!

I’m actually serious for once.  …you know…that I’m scared…not serious about my fitness! 

I’ve been working the equivalent of a second job for the past few weeks and I’m terribly out of shape by my usual standards.   I know my competition has been training.   And since I have to work the next 12 days in a row, I’m not counting on a spa-health-training trip to Aruba or some healthy place (is that a healthy place?) to help me out. 

A short phone call from Supermann (Robert Blount), our trainer in this effort, helped … only because we laughed about how I didn’t have time to use him for training during the past three months!  

Weigh-in is Friday at 5pm.  The fitness hell…oops, I mean challenge, is Saturday morning at 9:00. 

Stay tuned. 

Bruce Seelinger (top picture) of Apex, NC took some incredible pictures of the Boston Marathon.  I’m working on a slide show (will try to get it up and running today) for you.  It’ll include Bruce’s pictures of:

The Marine (bottom pic) who walked the entire 26.2 miles in full battle gear

Team Hoyt, a father who pushes his special needs son (900 races for them!)

The dramatic women’s first place finish

Joe Haynes! (Yes, Joe, Bruce got pics of you during the race)

Lance Armstrong

Lots of other people with inspiring stories of overcoming seemingly impossible odds  –  Thanks for taking us there, Bruce!

Commenter ”G” pointed out what a bummer it is to train hard and actually win a prestigious race like Boston, only to be upstaged by someone taller, just because you couldn’t reach the tape to break it at the finish line. 

The following are among the local athletes who competed in the 2008 Boston Marathon this morning.  Thanks to each of you for inspiring those of us who are coming back from injuries, those just discovering the joy of running and anyone trying to ‘go for it’ no matter what the endeavor.  

I’d love to post your race experience.  Email me at stalley@ktbs.com and send a picture!  You had a lot of support back home.  Read on.

Congratulations!   

Bib # LastName FirstName Finish Pace
12524 Balfe Jim 3:46:11 0:08:38
16617 Bright Frank 3:37:33 0:08:18
9827 Buoso Tony 3:47:08 0:08:40
7330 Cook Kevin 3:54:57 0:08:58
16131 Cook Denise 3:43:54 0:08:33
4002 Haynes Joseph 3:17:45 0:07:33
18261 Haynes Sandra 4:06:15 0:09:24
14667 Nanda Laura 3:41:59 0:08:28
8974 Pankey Lanya 3:41:03 0:08:26
4735 Patton Ryan 2:59:02 0:06:50
11394 RobertsonWallace3:24:59 0:07:49
16505 Terese Stephen 4:10:13 0:09:33
22842 Walter Robert 4:30:56 0:10:20
22843 Walter Lisa 4:30:56 0:10:20

15834 TalleyMooreSuzie4:09:12 0:09:31  (Way to go, sis!)